Travel Related Stories

Shantaram -The life of an Australian drug lord, prisoner

Shantaram is the 2003 novel written by Gregory David Roberts, a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison and fled to India where he lived for 10 years.The film rights have recently been sold to Johnny Depp and Warner Bros. are set to produce Shantaram starring Johnny Depp. Warner Bros. hopes to schedule the release of the movie in 2008.

It is an uncompromising story of a fugitive - based on a true story of Gregory Roberts'  life experience - on the run in Bombay, India; a man who sets up a free clinic in a slum, works for the biggest Don in the Bombay Mafia, works as a money launderer and street soldier, heads straight into Russian guns in the mountains of Afghanistan, and earns the name insightfully given him by his best friend's mother - "Shantaram", meaning "man of peace".

In July 1980 he escaped from Victoria’s maximum-security prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia’s most wanted men for what turned out to be the next ten years.

For most of this period, after an interlude in New Zealand, he lived in Bombay. After meeting a local man named Prabaker, who later becomes his best friend, he sets up a free health clinic in the slums where he learns about the Indian culture and characteristics of the people he later comes to love. He later works for Afghani mafia don "Abdel Khader Khan" and works in black market currency exchange and passport forgery. Numerous adventures follow, including fighting various gangs and entering into the Bollywood business. He later goes to Afghanistan to smuggle weapons for mujahideen freedom fighters in Afghanistan, where his mentor Khan is killed. He realizes he became everything he grew to loathe and falls into a depressive state (his closest friends, including Prabaker were all dead) after he returns. He ends up realizing that he must fight for what he believes is right, and build an honest life in Bombay. The story ends with him planning to go to Sri Lanka which lays the premise for the sequel to this book

Around the world on bicycle in 12 years!!!

Keiichi Iwasaki, is a man who has completely gone insane, or is enjoying his life to the max.  He’s going around the world – by bicycle. Currently 6 years and more than 30,000km into an estimated 10-year trek, this air conditioning repairman left his native Gunma-prefecture, Japan in 2001 with 160 yen (U.S.2 ) in his pocket and a vague notion to yes, see the world. Since then he’s traveled through more than 25 countries and reached unimaginable highs and lows.

Logical first question starts something like: “What kind of crazy...” He laughs, knowing this one was coming. With an easy smile and a glint in his eye he recounts how “life” in Japan wasn’t exactly inspiring. “Most people are just working and sleeping. If they ever do travel, they go by plane, which is fast and easy, but you can’t see anything. I want to meet people, see the land, and help spread peace.”  

Starting off hitching, Keiichi soon realized that he was still waiting around, asking for a ride. Independence became paramount, and a bicycle offered both the freedom he wanted and the low cost that was necessary. And “low-cost” is no understatement – his rickety one-speed mamachari, a Japanese slang term for “granny bike” covered with customized luggage racks, looks like it’s held together with no more than love and a whole lot of packing tape. But this mimics his entire approach to the adventure, which, with some very notable exceptions, has been funded by the charity of others and the money he earns busking. His skill? Magic tricks.

“There are cyclist networks, and hospitality clubs, so I couch-surf,” he explains, while making an old receipt turn into a bank note. “Money is important, but it’s not all” -one red plush toy becomes five in my closed fist- “If you don’t have any, you just work” -a set of chopsticks emerges from his nose- “I never eat at restaurants, and mostly cook for myself on the road” -a folded handkerchief comes alive as a mouse- “If you’re hungry, you can eat anything.”

What about equipment? Keiichi says he carries a small stove but no camping gear, using just a tarp and taking shelter wherever he can find it. Bizarrely, he carries a laptop computer and a camera. “It’s heavy, but so useful,” he explains. He prefers his donated bike, which he has learned to repair himself, to something more efficient, to prove that anything is possible, even on about 2 euros a day.

That attitude fueled his most significant achievement so far. After riding throughout southeast Asia and Nepal, he decided to go from sea level to the top of the world, with no money and no gas. Locking away savings he would need for equipment later on, he started at the southern tip of India, then rode the height of the subcontinent, earning enough through his tricks to make it to Mount Everest base camp. There he joined a 17-person international expedition and spent 10 months training to become one of just three people from the expedition to summit on May 31, 2005. Once the mission was completed, he rowed his way 1,300 km in a boat on the Ganges River, and biked back to Calcutta.

On the road Keiichi has faced many challenges apart from the physical enormity of traveling so far with so little. He’s been robbed multiple times, bitten by dogs, battled loneliness and beset by constant cultural differences and communication problems. By coincidence, he met a childhood friend traveling in Nepal. Convinced it was fate, the two decided to get married. While Keiichi’s parents were supportive (and have been through the entirety of the trip), hers, alas, were not. He has not heard from her since she returned to Japan.

Despite the challenges, he remains firmly positive, even after six years on the road, communicating with friends and family by e-mail and Skype and posting photos and updates on his website. “If I wanted to, I could just get on a plane and be home in a few hours,” he says. “Every day is interesting, and I’ve never wanted to quit. The world is not so big – I’m not on the moon.” As people go, he explains, differences are not so great. “Human emotions are the same everywhere – only culture and language are different. So I’m not afraid.”

There is a long road ahead for Keiichi Iwasaki. After riding up into Russia and then through Europe, he’ll cross into Morocco and bike to South Africa. There his dream is another ultimate undertaking: to row across the Atlantic Ocean, a three-month voyage to rival the years he’s already spent at nature’s whims. This he acknowledges, like the Everest climb, will have to be sponsored. Once in the Americas, his final destination will be Alaska, but as of now the route remains undecided.

What would a post-circumnavigation future look like for such a limitless adventurer? Keiichi plans to begin writing a book while still on the road, and thinks he’ll probably undertake other far-flung challenges, such as seeing the north and south poles and climbing the tallest peak on each continent. For now he’s happy to be living a life that few could even dream of. Asked if he missed anything, he responded in the negative. Smiling, he corrected himself: “Wait, there’s one thing – sushi.”